Twentieth-century men and women, faced with a dazzling array of modern food products, are naturally tempted by their convenience and glitz.   They would prefer not to worry about how their foods are processed or what they contain; they would prefer not to spend time in food preparation the way their ancestors did.   But the inevitable consequence of this insouciance is the host of debilitating diseases now endemic in our society.

With traditions forgotten, the tool that allows modern men and women to regain their health and vitality is knowledge – knowledge of the fruits of honest scientific inquiry as well as renewed familiarity with culinary customs of the past.   The cook, the food provider and parents of young children can no longer afford to be misled by what passes for nutritional wisdom in the popular press, especially as so much orthodox advice – magnified, simplified and twisted by publicity for processed foods – is partially or totally wrong.   We urge you to keep abreast of research conducted by independent researchers and holistic doctors, especially as it sheds light on the nourishing traditions of our ancestors.

Then call on your reserves of ingenuity and creativity to translate that knowledge into delicious meals in whatever culinary tradition may appeal to you and your family.   We must not lose sight of the fact that the fundamental requirement of the food we eat is that we like it.   The healthiest food in the world does us no good if we must gag it down because it tastes bad.

Our food should satisfy our four basic tastes – salt, sour, bitter and sweet.   These tastes are meant to guide us to the foods we need, but they are easily suborned by ignorance or lack of will.   Satisfy the salt taste with natural sea salt or traditional meat broths, which also provide magnesium and vital trace minerals, instead of products laced with MSG or drenched in commercial salt; please the sour taste bud with old-fashioned fermented foods that provide the enzymatic by-products of the culturing process, rather than with pasteurized condiments and alcohol; gratify the bitter taste bud with the dark green vegetables and bitter herbs that are valued in every traditional society, so rich in vitamins and minerals, instead of coffee and tea; and delight the sweet tooth with fruits at their peak of ripeness and with natural sweeteners high in nutrients, rather than refined sugar products.

The challenge to every individual is to determine the diet that is right for him and to implement that diet in a way that does not divorce him from the company of fellow human beings at mealtimes.   Each person's ideal diet is usually discovered through a combination of study, observation and intuition, a process designed to replace that mysterious infallible instinct that guided primitive man to the foods he needed to keep him healthy and strong.

To make us healthy, our food must taste good; it must be digestible, and it must be eaten in peace.   Even whole foods, properly prepared according to traditional methods, do us no good if we eat them with a grudge; they will not confer health on the man who does not forgive.   It is the loving heart who will find, in the pages that follow, guidelines for providing an abundance of all the nutrients we need to live healthy, happy and productive lives.

[Excerpted from Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats , by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. – Revised Second Edition, page 63]